This invention is directed to motor operated mechanical log splitters. More specifically, the invention is directed to mechanical log splitters and methods of providing multiple safety features in combination with advantageous drive features.
Log splitters are known in the hardware and forestry industries. Typically, log splitters derive their power from a motor which may be gas driven, or electrically driven. Power from the motor is fed, typically, to a flywheel that will maintain a steady momentum by the splitter, even when it is splitting a hard log. Log splitters include a blade and ram combination, in which a ram forces a log of log against a blade, thereby splitting the log into chunks of manageable size.
One of the problems that arises with such log splitters is that they can be extremely dangerous. A first source of danger is that a workman may accidentally find that a hand or other extremity may become caught in the space between the ram and the blade, with catastrophic results. Some log splitters today have designs that address this problem, by having a structure that compels a user to apply both of his hands to a point behind the cutting portion of the log splitter before the ram and blade are permitted to move toward each other. However, a second source of danger may be found in the fact that the resetting mechanism of some log splitters, which sets the log splitter at its starting or “zero” configuration before cutting a new log, may fail to reset the activation mechanisms of the splitter to their zero condition, with the result that a user may accidentally trigger movement of the ram and blade combination with only one hand while the other hand is in a location exposed to injury. Such failures more likely occur when one of the activation mechanisms is electronically controlled and prone to error by circuit malfunction, and thus the user cannot see with his unaided eye that a failure has occurred; consequently, he may proceed to use the splitter without knowing that a safety mechanism is in fact not operational and is not working to protect his safety.
Therefore, there is a need in the art of log splitters having a primary safety mechanism protecting a user from accidental limb entrapment, for a safety system which provides a visible and tangible confirmation after each log is split that the safety mechanisms have been reset to their zero configuration and will provide the protection for which they have been designed. The present invention addresses these and other needs.